The most popular food trend of 2008 was Eco-friendly, locally grown, natural foods. Consumers became much more concerned with where their food was grown, where it was coming from and the carbon foot-print it was leaving on the earth. Though organic foods were being advertised as the "healthy way" to go, a locally grown product is a much better choice over an organic one because the food is fresher and the footprint is smaller.Both 2008 and 2009 have been very tough for our economy financially which made prices go up in the food industry. This not only affected restaurant and store owners, but also consumers when planning their purchases. Higher prices pushed many consumers out of the fresh produce section and back to canned food and freezer aisles.
Consumer's became more and more aware of the contents of the food they were eating which forced the industry to make food labels clear and the ingredients simpler. Research showed that consumers didn't want to purchase a food product that had ingredients they couldn't pronounce, and foods that had things like artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
One of the major considerations that the food industry took during these past two years is the future children of America. Research has shown that there was and is still is a growing awareness of, unhealthy food + children = unhealthy future adults, which has influenced parents to become more concerned about the food that their infants are eating. There has become an emphasis on "natural," "organic," and "no additives and preservative" to which consumers are contributing to the innovation of new food products.
Trends for the FUTURE:
Though it has been mentioned as trend in 2008 and 2009, naturally and locally grown foods will carry over into the future.; especially because of the growing awareness of Americans health. Buying fresh, natural grown food is the best way to ensure that one is truly eating fresh foods.
New technologies are also emerging within the industry to help ensure preservation. One that is becoming popular and most talked about is thermal processing which provides a higher degree of microbial safety and keeps the nutritional value of the food product. Though this would preserve food for much longer it has been suggested that it degrades the quality of food to some extent, changes the physical appearance of foods and consumes a large amount of energy.
Other "minimal" technologies have also been considered in food preservation. This includes controlled atmosphere storage of fruits and vegetables, and modified atmosphere packaging for foods, or the development of extended shelf-life refrigerated foods. These techniques would extremely help the future of our society financially and if and when they are perfected they could make for a healthier America as well.
Posted by: Kaila Evenoff and Lindsey Jamieson
Sources:
"Futurists Predict Tasty Trends," Marian Saizman and Ira Matathia, http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2007/015.html
"Top Ten Food Trends for 2008," http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/top-10-food-trends-for-2008?page=2
The World of Food Science, "Future Trends in Food Technology; Novel Food and Transgenic Food," J. Farkas, http://www.worldfoodscience.org/cms/?pid=1001348
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